[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh Railways maps

[Fred Schneider]

Pittsburgh Railways was not given to wasting their breath telling you  
where their trolleys and buses ran.  If you lived there you knew.     
I remember one map in the 1940s and another in the 1950s.  If you are  
talking about one with a 1700 PCC and a GM diesel bus on the cover,  
it was probably issued about 1952 - 53  and they were still being  
handed out in until stocks were depleted.  I know they were still in  
stock in July 1958.   I organized a fantrip in 1958 and we gave them  
out to all the participants.   I think I recall that, at one point,  
they might have inserted a scrap of paper altering the fares.

It would take me more time to find a copy in this "dump" than it  
would just to offer you meaningful generalizations.  The diesel buses  
were acquired to replace the Millvale and Etna cars on Labor Day  
1952.  So you know it was after that.   I'm pretty sure that the  
interurbans are not on that guide, so that moves it to after August  
29, 1953.   And that juncture, the logical point would have been to  
withhold release until after the last shuttle / transfer routes were  
abandoned ... the 12 Evergeen car (lower north side via East Street)  
was replaced by the Manchester - Evergreen bus (it didn't go in East  
Street but over the top of the hill), and that happened in December  
1953.

Your guess about the initiation of a 20 cent fare is as good as any.   
If 63 Corey Avenue in Braddock shows as a rail route, it quit the  
same day as the Washington interurban:  August 29, 1953.   Of   
course, you didn't mention Washington and I don't remember that it  
was on the map.  I thought the map came after that.

fws

On Sep 14, 2005, at 5:45 PM, Bill Robb wrote:

> I was given a Pittsburgh Railways Transit guide by a
> friend on Monday night.  There is no noticeable date
> on the map.
>
> I've been able to narrow it down to between 12/27/53
> and 1/1/56 by the 20 cent trolley and feeder bus fare
> and the 25 cent cash or 5 ticket for $1.15 through bus
> fare.  Using the March-April 1975 Motor Coach Age
> article on Pittsburgh Railways I can narrow it down
> further to after 6/7/53 when the P&LE Transfer went
> bus.
>
> Is there any hidden indication of the date this map
> was issued?  I see a code at the bottom of the front
> cover: 10316-26X.
>
> Bill Robb
>
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